How to Develop Your Own Altcoin

18.07.2018

In the past few years, cryptocurrencies and everything associated with them have become one of the most discussed topics globally. As the term is connected to the concept of decentralization, it becomes obvious why new digital money launch projects stir up excitement on the Internet so quickly and attract investors.

In this article, we will give you basic tips on how to create a new altcoin – your own cryptocurrency.

Why Do Many Still Doubt the Viability of Cryptocurrencies?

The most popular cryptocurrency today is Bitcoin. This digital coin (as, in principle, all its followers) is characterized by a complete lack of control by state authorities and the absence of economic dependence from any traditional bank. This, precisely, is one of the principal differences between cryptocurrencies and fiat money, controlled by governments. In turn, the very absence of any intermediaries participating in financial transactions provided by the decentralization is a decisive factor in determining the future prospects of these monetary units.

We should note that the vast majority of the existing cryptocurrencies have an upper limit to the total volume of coin issuance. This means that as the demand grows, their value in the external markets also increases (for example, the world-famous Bitcoin grew in price from mere cents to over $20,000 per unit at its peak, and stabilized at $6,000+ currently).

If this concept of currency is so promising, why do many opinion leaders still doubt its viability? In fact, the reasons are quite simple.

People often treat innovations with doubt. To the general public, Bitcoin (not to mention other, less popular coins) became known quite recently (in 2016), and the whole idea of blockchain-based money was so radical that in order not to cause surprise and perplexity to the average person, a couple of years is still needed, at least.

On the other hand, the sharp collapse of most popular cryptocurrencies’ value on the foreign markets at the beginning of 2018 caused a flurry of discontented exclamations from conservative investors: “Told you so: it was all a bubble!” And yes, those who began to actively invest in the cryptocurrency, not having understood all the possible risks, obviously were disappointed with this trend.

And the reasons for the fall, in fact, are not so terrible and do not undermine the potential for the viability of the cryptocurrency. They are summarized in three factors.

Excess of sales over purchases (as the value of the dollar-equivalent began to grow, investors began to massively sell their savings)

Tightening of state control over transactions with cryptocurrencies in some countries (here we need to say “thank you” to the governments of China, India, Russia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia)

Mass futures trading (many large exchange traders intentionally reduce the value of the currency to create the most favorable conditions for further purchases).

Thus, having the proper knowledge, time and budget, you can start to create an altcoin with absolute confidence (altcoins are any cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin). A kind of tutorial will follow below.

Altcoin Creation Guide: Basic Tips

In order to fully answer the question: “How do I create a cryptocurrency?”, we offer you some advice from our experience.

1. Decide on the Approach to Creating your Future Currency

In fact, there are several approaches when starting to develop an altcoin.

Use Existing Blockchain

If you are a fairly experienced developer and have repeatedly created solutions based on the blockchain, the fastest way to create a new cryptocurrency will be the conversion of the codebase of one of the ready publicly available coins. Such code is usually published by creators on Github (as is in the case with Bitcoin). Another shining example is Litecoin. Charles Lee took the code, provisioned by the Satoshi Nakamoto team, greatly modified it and released the results publicly.

Build Your Own Blockchain

On the other hand, you can write your own code from scratch, without resorting to the ready-made solutions. In this case, it is better to entrust this process to an experienced development team, since a single programmer, even a seasoned veteran, would have trouble working out all the aspects of the modern alternative crypto-exchange platform thoroughly.

Use a Platform

Also, there is yet another option – you can launch your personal altcoin with the help of a specialized platform. This is a great way for people that already have an image of how blockchain basically works, but aren’t that familiar with its technical implementation nuances. In this manner, your chosen platform’s tech support will be responsible for all the aspects of coin generation for your customers. This type of service is provided by WalletBuilders and CryptoLife.

In order to start working with these providers, you’ll have to set key parameters for your future cryptocurrency (their maximum quantity, exclusive icon, transaction commission, etc.). You can use ready made, configured templates and make almost no adjustments by yourself whatsoever (except for the icon creation and the name of your currency). Such templates start at 0.01 BTC (at WalletBuilders, you can find a test version), and can be launched in a few days after the purchase and configuration.

Create a Token

As a cheaper and less resource-consuming solution, you can create a token. While a coin has its own blockchain, a token operates on top of an existing blockchain like Ethereum.

Therefore, all the translations rely on the chosen network’s technology. Tokens can represent anything from a concert ticket to loyalty program points, while coins transfer wealth.

Often a public ICO is organized in order to present the token to the audience. As a base for a token, any material or intellectual asset will do. The main thing here is for blockchain to be involved in some way in the token operation. Otherwise, an ICO would be useless (it’d be like launching an ICO to get investments for your pizza place network).

2. Choose a standard for smart contract implementation

Traditionally, most cryptocurrencies and tokens are based on the ERC-20 standard (which is the Ethereum platform marker). In order to provide correspondence with the service, you can use services like MetaMask. This is a special Chrome plugin that connects the newly-created blockchain platform to the Metamask RPC servers. As a result, the owner of the platform gets full access to the Ethereum functionality. CoinLaunch is a service that can help you connect to the Metamask. Their price depends on the sum collected during the ICO. Usually, they take around a 5-10% commission from the sum collected during ICO.

3. Create an MVP

Since the development of the altcoin platform is a kind of start-up that does not have complete analogs, we recommend building an MVP. In essence, an MVP is a working solution that demonstrates the core functionality of the developed product, allowing the collection of user feedback. Thus, you can test your product on your target audience and understand the feasibility of its further development.

4. Look for Investors

The launch of a cryptocurrency is an expensive event. Moreover, if you decide to launch a full-fledged ICO, you are unlikely to spend less than $150-200 thousand. For many of us, such a budget seems cosmic, so a search for investors will be the best solution. To find as many people ready to invest in the development of your business idea as possible, you will need to hire professionals who will make an intelligent and informative website for you and continue to maintain it.

How to Create an Alternative Cryptocurrency: Conclusion

Have you ever wondered: “How can I create my own cryptocurrency?” We hope that this article was an answer to your question. As you may understand from our altcoin creation guide, launching your own cryptocurrency is a rather complicated procedure and requires deep technical skills from the creators.

If you have your own idea for a digital coin, but have no labor resources needed to implement it, go the easy way – contact the professionals! Our highly skilled developers have years of experience in the market and would take full responsibility for the technical implementation and maintenance required. You will receive a fully working solution that will bring you passive income long after the release.